Am I constantly worried about my image because I want to look "good" or because I feel forced to look "good?" Am I sweet, girly, and flirty because I want to be, or has the media subtly molded me into that?
Media surrounds me, and therefore I am constantly consuming. Be it through television programs, commercials, magazine ads, song lyrics, music videos, or even facebook! Unfortunately, there is a pattern in each of these mediums. Females are constantly being portrayed in one of two ways: they can either be thin, delicate, and beautiful, waiting for their knight in shining armor to sweep them off their feet OR they are thin, sexy, "bad girls" trying to get male attention in "unconventional" ways.
The media advertises a million and one ways women are supposed to be/act. Female ads are mostly for beauty products to make you look younger, or thinner, or accentuate your eyes and lips. Female artists' lyrics are usually about wanting a guy or getting heart broken by one, and male artists (for the most part) sing about the female body. Also, music videos always have the female(s) looking thin/voluptuous and beautiful/sexy. All these mediums represent women in a black or white manner, with no room for grays.
Just as Berger was stating in "Ways of Seeing," women are objectified by men, and this idea of "women as objects" is replicated by the media. I will sadly admit, at least once in my life, I have acted and looked a certain way specifically for the opposite sex; I've turned myself "into an object - and most particularly an object of vision: a sight."
With who's help? The media, because they are the ones who tell me what's "acceptable" and what is not.
VICTORIA'S SECRET MODELS
DOVE'S REAL BEAUTY CAMPAIGN MODELS
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